Notes from Howard's Sabbatical from Working. The name comes from a 1998 lunch conversation. Someone asked if everything man knew was on the web. I answered "no" and off the top of my head said "Fidel Castro's favorite color". About every 6-12 months I've searched for this. It doesn't show up in the first 50 Google results (this blog is finally first for that search), AskJeeves says it's: red.

Friday, April 23, 2010

Have Conservatives Gone Mad?

"I really do want to take Republicans seriously. Mainstream conservative voices are embracing theories that are, to use Julian Sanchez's phrase, 'untethered' to the real world. Can anyone deny that the most trenchant and effective criticism of President Obama today comes not from the right but from the left? Rachel Maddow's grilling of administration economic officials. Keith Olbermann's hectoring of Democratic leaders on the public option. Glenn Greenwald's criticisms of Elena Kagan. Ezra Klein and Jonathan Cohn's keepin'-them-honest perspectives on health care. The civil libertarian left on detainees and Gitmo. The Huffington Post on derivatives."

1 comment:

How did the Laffer curve and Voodoo economics work out for the country over the last 30 years?

Can you say 20% unemployment/underemployment, stagnant wages for a decade, the greatest income disparity since the Great Depression, private and public pension plans decimated ....the list goes on.

How did the (neo)conservative foreign policy of shoot first and ask questions later work out for us?

Two wars, one unnecessary, thousands of dead American service members, hundreds of thousands of dead civilians, a trillion dollars of national treasure wasted and no end in sight. Not to mention, a sponsor of terrorism on the verge of becoming a member of the nuclear club.

As previously mentioned, real retrospective thought and analysis rarely serves their purpose so they don't do it. Would you want to reflect on your record if it was so dismal?

So when you can't argue from a position of reason or truth, you are left, like an angry child, to name calling......socialist, communist, foreign, muslim, death panels for grandma, etc...

Conservative commentators no longer seem to truly engage in a real debate on the merits/demerits of progressive/conservative ideas; because by doing so, they implicity agree that the idea is at least worthy of consideration.

Conservatives have created a storyline that must always support the notion that Obama is inherently dangerous and evil, and therefore, his ideas are not worthy of consideration. For what ideas can possibly come from a communist or socialist or atheist, that possibly merit serious consideration and debate.

It's all death panels and tyranny, and overtaxation, and taking freedoms away, and I want my country back.....with absolutely no connection to reality. And, more oftern than not, the conservative pundits and political leaders just stoke the ignorant fires even hotter.

It should be no surpise that the most coherent deconstruction of progressive ideas, comes from progressives themselves. Conservatives have no inherent interest in improving things, since they think, and rightly so for themselves and their friends, things are pretty darned good.

There is simply no good return on investment for Conservatives to engage in real analysis and argument anymore. Just find the best slogan, whether or not it is factually accurate or makes any sense at all is relevant, and just repeat it over and over and over again until enough people believe it is true. Forty-five percent(45%) of Americans still believe that Saddam Hussein was connected to the attack on 9/11.

This is the same audience that conservatives play to, so one is left to conclude that reality is truly irrelevant. Say what gets the attention of your base and hope that ultimately gets out the vote (or makes you rich if you are Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, or Sarah Palin).

Conservatives haven't gone mad, they are simply sharpening their message for the intended audience.